Thoughts on Life, Love, Politics, Hypocrisy and Coming Out in Mid-Life

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Catholic Church Hypocrisy on Church Sponsored Anti-LGBT Animus

One hears over and over about the supposed anti-Christian discrimination fostered by LGBT rights organizations and laws enacted to prevent anti-LGBT discrimination. Anything that limits the ability of Christofascists and Catholic extremists to discriminate against gays - or other targets of hatred such as divorced Catholics, cohabitating unmarried couples, women using contraception, and, of course, non-Christians - is shrilly denounced as anti-Christian or anti-Catholic persecution. Lost in the equation is that due to (in my view, improper) the tax-exempt status of churches, in reality all members of society are being forced to indirectly financially underwrite denominations that target them for hatred and discrimination. This is NOT what the Founding Fathers contemplated when they drafted the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Indeed, it is precisely what they sought to avoid. A piece in the Louisville Courier Journal takes to task Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz for his blindness and hypocrisy on this issue. Here are column excerpts:

I
would like to point out in response to Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz in his recent
essay published in Courier Journal that his institution and his faith do not
need a “First Amendment Defense Act” to protect his ability or the ability of
the Catholic Church in America to pass down their beliefs to the
children.

Not
a single law in this country blocks them from doing so. And not a single person
in this country can do that either. Within the Church institution, gay marriage
can be forbidden and women’s reproductive choices curtailed. The Church
can even work to protect pedophile priests from prosecution by moving them out
of the country, as was reported in USA Today in February of 2016.

However, the
Catholic Church uses government grants and tax dollars to do all of this, which
means that my tax dollars are funding the Catholic Church’s internal theological
prohibitions and practices. My right not to pay taxes to prop up religious
beliefs, practices and opinions is violated every day. Now we see the lobbying
hand is out for tax credits (vouchers) to help fund religious schools.

No, Kurtz,
it is not your rights or your Church’s that are in jeopardy. The danger is
that my and every taxpayer in this nation’s rights are being eroded,
and this has been going on for a long time.

The
major problem we all face is that the Church is not satisfied with just
blocking civil rights within its walls. The Catholic Church funneled millions
of tax-free dollars from dioceses, the Council of Bishops and offshoot Catholic
groups like the Knights of Columbus to block gay marriage laws in various areas
of the country before the Supreme Court finally ruled gay marriage as civil
right. Catholic-owned hospitals, which receive millions in tax dollars, block
non-Catholic women and men from receiving legal reproductive health care every
day.

More
than 60 percent of the budget of Catholic Charities comes from government
grants. But the federal and state governments are not allowed to oversee how
that money is spent. There are more than 200 tax exemption laws on the books
that cover religious institutions. I’d say the Church in America is certainly
experiencing government favoritism rather than discrimination.

Freedom
to practice religion, to hold religious beliefs, and to pass them down to the
next generation is alive and safe in this county. But "freedom of
religion” does not mean that religious opinions are protected from scrutiny,
doubt and even condemnation when offered in the public arena. It does not mean
that bullying gays should be protected by some ridiculous “amendment’.

It
does not mean that legal medical procedures, treatments and medications should
be withheld from people who do not share the same religious beliefs. It does
not mean that the civil right to participate in marriage should be blocked. It
does not mean that public businesses can discriminate against anyone who seeks
their services or products. There is discrimination going on here,
but Kurtz is not recognizing the source of it.

We should talk
about the “dignity of every human being.” We should also talk about what
that actually means. And, we should talk about the rampant religiously
sponsored and government funded discrimination that takes place in this country
every day. Is Kurtz ready for that dialogue?

How do we fix the problem? Tax churches and all church properties not directly and exclusively used for true charitable purposes. If churches cannot survive without the forced subsidization from non-members, then they deserve to die. As for the Catholic Church - which owns untold fortunes in art treasures and properties - if parishioners will not pay the bills, then sell of assets. Just like everyone else.

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Out gay attorney in a committed relationship; formerly married and father of three wonderful children; sometime activist and political/news junkie; survived coming out in mid-life and hope to share my experiences and reflections with others.
In the career/professional realm, I am affiliated with Caplan & Associates PC where I practice in the areas of real estate, estate planning (Wills, Trusts, Advanced Medical Directives, Financial Powers of Attorney, Durable Medical Powers of Attorney); business law and commercial transactions; formation of corporations and limited liability companies and legal services to the gay, lesbian and transgender community, including birth certificate amendment.

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